Operational update

Apr 13, 2016

Vandalism in Surrey leaves 6,000 without power

VANCOUVER – Four transmission poles carrying a 60 kilovolt transmission line running through the Green Timbers area in Surrey were cut down with a chainsaw last night at 1 a.m., resulting in an outage for 6,000 customers in Whalley.

BC Hydro is extremely concerned about this dangerous act of vandalism. In addition to the transmission line carrying 60,000 volts, these poles carry two sets of high-voltage distribution circuits, each carrying 25,000 volts. This could have injured or killed a member of the public or our crews as BC Hydro worked to make repairs.

Crews made the area safe and restored power to the majority of customers around 4 a.m. Customers were switched to a different distribution circuit as extensive repairs are required.

More than a dozen individuals are working on the repairs, which involve crews replacing the damaged poles and transferring the conductors and circuits to the new poles. This work should be completed later today.